Wrapped In Silk
by Darkened Shadows
Summary: Takes place before Ranma shows his male self to his mother. There's no good way to summarize this. Ranma goes to Nodoka and revelations are made.
1. It Begins With a Curry Monster

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½ or any other character created by Rumiko Takahashi. No suing, please!

Author's Notes: Okay, this is a fanfic based on an RP that I'm doing with LunisTG. So, keep in mind that this is mostly a collaboration. I will inform you when it breaks away from the RP. (Shh, I'm just better than him at turning dialogue into prose.) Here goes:

It all started with her cooking, as many things often did. Akane was well aware of the effect of her cooking. Sometimes, she just hoped that her tastes were too sensitive for her own cooking. She remembered that Ryoga could eat it. However, as Ranma had said many times, Ryoga was nigh indestructible.

Akane had hoped that with the help of her mother's cookbook, her culinary skills would improve. In fact, though, they seemed to be bottoming out. She had cooked something a few days ago that was supposed to be curried rice and fish. However, it resembled a green gelatinous mess with chunks of white throughout. In response to the massive failure, she had covered it with aluminum foil and pushed it to the back of the refrigerator.

She knew that Kasumi would be doing one of her house-cleaning adventures the next day, an expedition that involved many cleaning agents and shining wax for some reason. What it entailed was that everything – absolutely everything – got cleaned from top to bottom. So, her mild-mannered sister would definitely notice this disgusting concoction that had come from her most recent trip into the culinary world.

It was time to take it out. Hell, maybe the two days for storing had caused it to become better, edible even.

Unlikely.

She stripped off the foil quickly, idly balling the material to be discarded, and inspected the food again. It couldn't really be said that it no longer resembled food, for it hadn't really looked like something edible prior to its banishment to foil-wrapped chill. However, the greenish curry (a sign that the curry hadn't come out right to begin with) had taken on a weird brownish tint and the gel-like mass on the plate had more white, as if the chunks of rice and fish had grown to create some sort of infrastructure.

Tilting her head at it, her mind wondered at the changes. She figured it was probably like growing mold and turned away to toss the balled-up foil into a trash bin.

"What is this?" Akane turned to see Ranma eyeing the plate suspiciously. She had honestly thought everyone was gone and was going to try to stomach the days-old concoction herself. However, if Ranma was here, there was no reason to torture herself…

"And why is it eating the plate?"

Akane waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, that's the curry." After a moment, she registered his second question and bent her knees slightly to put her eyes level with the curry. Sure enough, there was a tiny set of fangs and they were determinedly gnawing at the plate.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him giving her that look. That suspicious look combined with disbelief. "Curry eats plates? Since when, tomboy?"

Akane clenched her jaw hard – oh, how she hated it when he called her that – but shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "Since now, okay?" She winced mentally at how defensive she sounded.

Ranma narrowed his eyes at the twitching mass on the plate. "And what am I supposed to do with it?"

"Water it and it'll be your friend for life." Akane laughed, most of her light-hearted at the novelty at having inadvertently created a curry monster (for lack of a better term). "Or, you know, you could give it to Happosai." She paused, tilted her head at the wobbling gelatin, and looked sideways at Ranma. "Though, you may want to be a girl when you do."

Before she even finished her last statement, Ranma's features melted in relief and his sigh reflected that emotion. "I thought you were going to make me eat it."

Akane could feel the familiar flash of anger but it was less than normal and she was able to ignore it. "Well, I could," she drawled softly. She bent at her waist to inspect the curry more closely. "But it's kinda cute. I think it's grown on me." _Kinda like you that way,_ she thought to herself.

Suddenly, the curry heaved itself off the plate, finishing the movement with a roll off of the table and a gentle thud to the wood floor. It began moving steadily with the same slow, purposeful actions of an inchworm.

Ranma shrugged, a smile tugging at his lips. "We could let it go."

Akane didn't really mean what she said next but it was something to say. "It's cute. P-Chan could have a friend."

"He deserves it… but it doesn't deserve him," Ranma muttered in a low voice.

Though the comment was soft, Akane still heard. Somehow she knew she should feel anger, if only for her little piglet, but she could only feel confusion. "P-Chan deserves a curry monster?" She eyed her fiancé, wanting to jibe at him a little. "Are you afraid of the curry?"

"No," he scoffed. "But I wish it'd eat Pork-Butt."

Ah, this was familiar territory, arguing about her pet. "Poor P-Chan. What did he ever do to you?"

Ranma sighed. "Wish I could tell you…"

Akane rolled her eyes. This again… "Sure ya do." Another jibe, this one aimed to get some kind of answer out of him finally.

"Hey!" Ranma countered, his defensive streak in full swing. "I promised I wouldn't tell—" He quickly clamped his hands over his mouth, his eyes having become large orbs.

Akane almost smiled. Something, finally to be told something! "Promised you wouldn't tell me what? Come on, Ranma! I wanna know!"

Ranma darted his eyes to the side, avoiding her gaze. "I won't tell ya and you'd never believe me even if I did."

Now she could feel the anger sparking inside. "Yeah? Says who? You?" She scoffed slightly at the last part.

Of course, that was the bad thing about her anger: it caused Ranma to explode as well. "When have you _ever_ believed _anything_ I've said? You even take Kuno's word over mine."

"When have you ever given me a reason to trust you huh? When you save my life?" She scoffed again, even as a part of her was desperately trying to rein in the anger and harsh words. "But hey, you'd do that for anybody, wouldn't you?"

"How can I get you to trust me when everything is my fault, when I'm always the 'pervert' or the bad guy? You treat Kuno and his Hentai Horde like human beings but I'm just scum, right?"

Akane goggled at him. They'd been living in the same house for over a year and he still didn't get it? "At least they like me, okay? Even if I'm just some sort of prize to them…" She trailed off, already feeling the futility in trying to explain. Even if she could find the right words, he would never ever get it. "Whatever. It's not like you'd understand anyway."

However, as Akane's anger was leeching away, his seemed to expand a bit more. "Right," he drawled. "Stupid old Ranma… never understands anything." With an acidic glare, he turned away from her and began to move in the direction of the dojo.

Akane sighed, realizing that her comment had somehow been taken way more deeply than normal. "I never said you were stupid, Ranma. You're just not… me." That was the problem, it seemed a lot of the time: Akane herself.

"I'm not anyone, no one at all." He abruptly changed directions and headed down the hall to the guest room.

Akane knew Ranma well enough to know that he was having another one of his depressed fits, packing up everything he owned and leaving quite a bit behind. The fact that a normal, almost docile conversation had crashed so quickly gave testament to the fact that something else was probably on his mind. But his actions were enough to allow her own deep-seated depression make itself known.

Her eyes trailed him as he walked away. "But you _are _someone," she murmured softly, much too softly for the martial artist in front of her to hear. Slowly, she slumped to the ground, feeling suddenly like so much less. "How am I supposed to make this better?"

She had no idea where to start.

Hearing a soft noise, Akane turned to see P-Chan waddling toward her. It was uncanny, her pet's ability to show up after being gone for close to month whenever she was feeling particularly down. She looked at the piglet sadly. "He's leaving and I don't know how…" She trailed off as several things began to finally work themselves together in her mind. In a normal situation, she was so far gone in self-involvement and crying that she often didn't really notice P-Chan's appearance. The piglet wasn't something to focus on, he was something to be comforted by.

But now… Oh, not this, not now.

There was the name-calling (and there were so many names) and there was that bandana. A million other things swirled in her head, including the times Ryoga would "help" Ranma try to find a cure…

Was that a lie as well?

She looked her piglet in the eye, inching closer. "P-Chan, are you…" She gulped hard, more than betrayal pushing at her emotions. "Please tell me you're not—"

Almost instantly, as if he actually felt the full extent of danger hanging over his head, P-Chan panicked. He squealed and began to quickly back away, his eyes always on Akane. However, just as he began to turn to sprint away, the small piglet felt something sharp dig into one of his legs, causing him to trip over himself and lose his momentum.

Akane shuffled on her knees to where the curry monster was holding P-Chan captive. Latching onto the bandana secured around her pet's neck, she brought him close to her face. "You are Ryoga, aren't you?" Some of her sadness made itself known. "Please don't lie."

In response, the pig only struggled harder, squealing as it attempted to loosen her grip. The actions alone served as her answer, filling her soul with cold fury. Sure, anger was nearly everpresent with Akane – it marked who she was. But this coldness… This was what true betrayal felt like.

"All right." She tightened her grip on the bandana until his air flow was blocked, watching unfeelingly as the piglet's face began to turn blue before allowing her grip to loosen just enough to allow him to breathe. "I trust you." She held the limp but conscious piglet to her chest, her grip still like iron, as she began to heat up water in a kettle. "As much as I trust anyone these days…"

The small pig began to sob against her, pitiful resignation in the cries.

"Poor piggy." She could hear the false cooing in her voice and knew her anger was hitting a dangerous point. "Now, be still. Mummy has to make you clean with warm water." She tilted the kettle over her pet, every inch of her dreading this moment, and gasped at the instantaneous change. "Oh… Oh, God," she moaned.

Standing there oblivious to the fact that he was nude except for the bandana around his head, Ryoga laughed nervously, his hand gripping the back of his neck. "Akane… I can explain. This is all Ranma's fault." His tone was so certain that she would have almost believed him, had she not known better.

She clenched her jaw hard, trying to force herself to refrain from killing the boy in front of her. "How… just how exactly is this Ranma's fault?"

"He's the one that knocked me into the spring. _He _is the one who ran out on our fight…"

"That was years ago, Ryoga," she stated sadly. However, almost immediately to follow was a feeling of shock. "You followed him to China?"

It seemed that the eternally lost boy was still entrenched in his own misery. "Yeah, and he kicked me into that stupid spring when he was chasing Genma. Every time he sees me, he rubs it in my face, calling me Pork Butt, Babe, Hamhead, Bacon Breath, P-Chan…" Akane felt he probably could have gone on indefinitely if she hadn't interjected with her own opinion.

She grabbed his shoulders, trying to make him focus on her, but quickly released him when it came to her mind again that he was very nude. "Ryoga, you turn into a pig," she said as calmly as she could manage. "Besides, you mock him about turning into a girl."

"Bah!" he scoffed loudly. "He calls that a curse? At least he doesn't get people trying to eat him."

"No, not that," she murmured. She turned, wanting to get far away as quickly as possible. "I've gotta go but you should… you should get dressed." She walked toward the front of the house, just wanting to be outside in clean air. "It's not his fault, you know. It's not anyone's fault."

Though she didn't realize it, Ryoga promptly fainted behind her as he fully realized that he had been naked since he changed back.

Akane navigated through the corridors, turning toward the garden rather than the dojo. She didn't need to work out her frustration, she just needed something resembling peace. The koi pond served that purpose nicely, though some of the memories that it held were not so peaceful. Idly, she kicked at the water with the tip of her small foot.

"So _stupid_," she yelled at the garden. "That didn't fix anything!" After a moment of glaring at absolutely nothing, she sank to her knees. "I'm such an idiot." The truth of it wasn't just that she felt stupid because if she was honest with herself about Ranma's true nature, it became clear that he had been hinting at Ryoga's alternate forms for months and months. The crux of the matter was that she had cared for and trusted P-Chan, more than she had even allowed herself to trust anyone – the only person that even came close was Kasumi. But Ryoga had tainted that, had in fact seen her completely naked and witnessed her most private moments, a lot of which had her admitting things about her feelings towards Ranma that had taken even longer to convey to her sister.

It didn't take long for the lonely, betrayed feeling to convert to wild anger.

Ranma was vaguely surprised to see Ryoga's naked form, laying prone just outside of the kitchen. Shaking his head at the sight, he removed a pair of pants from his bag and shimmied them up the lost boy's legs. "Akane will kill him if she sees them," he murmured to himself.

A loud, shuddering crash caught his attention just then and his heightened hearing recognized that it came from the garden. Worried but not quite sure about what, he trailed outside to Akane lifting a medium-sized boulder. "What's wrong, 'Kane? Someone attacking again?" That was the only plausible reason that he could think of her wielding rocks that another female her size wouldn't even think of lifting.

The girl in question immediately turned to face him, whipping the rock around to hide behind her back. "Oh? That?" The back of his mind tried to bring up the fact that she sounded too chipper, especially for the argument they had just had. "I was just being a tomboy. You know me." That was off as well – Akane never called herself that. "No, nothing's wrong. Ever. I'm fine."

Ranma looked beyond the pond to the stone boundary wall on the far side of the property. The wall are cracked, something that definitely had been there before, and bits of the stone were still crumbling to the ground. It occurred to him that Akane had to be very angry to not only throw a boulder that far but also with enough force to cause that amount of damage. "You've never done property damage before… at least not without my head going through something. What's wrong?" His tone indicated that he wouldn't take no for an answer on this.

Akane sighed. "Nothing. Not really. It's just… I'm sorry, okay?"

His eyes boggled for a moment. "Sorry?" he echoed in confusion. He slipped into a fighter's stance and his gaze turned almost hard. "Okay, who are you and what did you do with Akane?"

"About Ryoga!" she responded almost desperately. She dropped the boulder and took a step back, stumbling over it in the process, as she eyed her fiancé and tried to figure out if he was being serious or not. "Because… with the naked… and he's P-Chan! Don't hurt me. I'm still me."

"So you figured it out, huh? That's a relief." He looked off to the side and sat on his bag after placing it on the ground.

"A relief? Oh, it's a relief." Akane rolled her eyes in building irritation. "Good, I'm glad that burden's off your shoulders."

Again, he matched her emotion by preempting with greater intensity. "You know how many times I tried to show you only to get my head knocked in? How many times I called him P-Chan… or commented on him getting lost? All for some stupid promise!"

Akane blinked. "What promise?"

"Before you 'adopted' P-Chan—" She could hear vague mockery in his tone at that word. "—I promised Ryoga that I wouldn't tell you about his curse." He shrugged. "Of course, at the time I thought he was a dog."

Thinking back, Akane vaguely remembered that night. "Oh… Oh! Bess… right. But why wouldn't you tell me? What's so bad about it?"

Ranma's eyes turned hard, even though his gaze wasn't completely set on her. "Well, I remembered how easily you turned on me when you found out about mine."

Akane smiled nervously, her next comment aimed to ease him a little. She wasn't exactly sure what she was trying to ease – his ego, his nerves… whatever was causing his tension, certainly. "Yeah, well, don't tell anyone this but I don't always handle stuff well."

The hardness in his eyes eased but he looked to the side again. "No kidding. Potential friend to public enemy number one in record time…"

It was remarks like that that made Akane realize that he really didn't get her at all. "Not number one," she corrected softly. "Anyway, it was stupid." She shifted her gaze pointedly to his bag, wanting desperately to change the subject. "Are you going somewhere?"

Ranma nodded, something like sadness settling over him and muffling his normal energy. "Yeah, I'm going to do a few things you've been telling me to do."

Akane was curious but she could feel foreboding as well. "Like what?"

"Foremost being talking to Mom and handling the fiancée mess."

Akane gulped. Ranma finally talking to Aunt Nodoka could really only mean one thing. "Do you… want me to come with you?"

Ranma stood, hefting the bag onto his back again. "If you want. But, Akane, you gotta promise not to interfere."

Akane tilted her head in what she hoped was a cute fashion. That dense attitude seemed to work for Shampoo, right? "Interfere with what?"

He gazed at her with wide blue eyes and she almost had to turn away from the plea there. "Just don't get in the way. Please."

She clenched her jaw, the only sign that she was fully unhappy with this turn of events. "If that's what you want. I will come with you, though." She cleared the thickness that was beginning to line her throat. "You shouldn't have to be alone when you go."

Ranma began to leave, navigating around the garden to the front gate. "I'm always alone anyways."

Akane followed him to his mother's house, always five steps behind him. "Not anymore," she murmured quietly.


	2. Maternal Solutions

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½ or any other character created by Rumiko Takahashi. No suing, please!

Author's Notes: Alright, to address some of the reviews: as far as this fanfic seeming contrived, I have to say that it will. Something I forgot to mention is that this is a fix-it fic among other plot point. Don't like it, don't read it. There were also some reviews about the OOC characterizations. LunisTG wanted me to say that Ranma's OOC is coming from battle fatigue. If you want to know about Akane's OOC before I get to it in the story, PM me. (Do that as well if you're not sure what battle fatigue is.) I hope everybody keeps reading. And finally, thanks for all the reviews! They are my lifeblood.

The silence reigned during their short walk to Nodoka Saotome's house on the edge of the Nerima ward. Akane hadn't been to the house itself since she was little. After their mother died, Nodoka tried to involve herself in their lives and ease them through the grief. But Akane knew she had had her own grief, the loss of her husband and son and her best friend in such a short time. In hindsight, she knew that it had to have hurt.

Ranma raised his hand to knock on the door and the sound echoed into Akane's head. It resonated discordantly and the wrongness of today seemed to get worse. Ranma was snappish and alarmingly serious in his teasing, alerting her to the fact that there was something wrong with him. Maybe it had been that internal knowledge that had kept her anger at bay this morning or maybe it was something less tangible, less known.

All she knew was that it was so hard to get angry today and something very bad would happen very soon.

The door opened and Akane saw her aunt's face, Nodoka with her beautiful brown hair and her personality so much like Kasumi. Her expression was one of distraction and her head was half tilted away. This time of the morning, she had likely just finished breakfast.

"Yes?" Nodoka finally focused on her son's face and her eyes instantly opened wide, giving a goggle-like quality to her face. "Ranma?"

From her stance directly behind Ranma, Akane tilted on one foot to make herself seen to her aunt. "Hi, Aunt Nodoka."

It was as if the older woman didn't even see her and Akane relaxed back into place behind her fiancé. She didn't like being shoved to the background – it made her feel like every insult that Ranma had every called her was actually true.

Thinking back on all of them, Akane grimaced visibly. God, but that was depressing.

Meanwhile, Ranma had nodded to his mother's question. Like some strange explosive… thing had taken hold of her, Nodoka had taken hold of him and crushed him to her with a bodily gesture, indicating once again that she was stronger than she looked. "My son…" The words were drowned in the sound of joyous sobbing.

It shattered the image of strength some.

"Um, Mom…" Ranma carefully extricated himself from Nodoka's grip, his sad eyes meeting hers. "There's something I need to tell you. Can we go to the backyard or something?" The way he said that, Akane could tell that he fully expected to have to commit seppuku. At the thought, something inside of her twisted and screamed but she kept quiet in the presence of her aunt.

Nodoka inclined her head to Ranma's suggestion, having no clue of the things that he was about to reveal to her. "Of course." She shook her head slightly, her smile turning apologetic as she looked at Akane finally. "Akane, it is good to see you again."

Akane pressed her lips together in an effort to control the tears that were beginning to rim her eyes. She was a smart girl – all of her teachers said so – and she had a pretty good idea of what Ranma was expecting. She couldn't help but expect it as well. "Come on." She turned away from the door to lead them around the house, not wanting to put Ranma through the pain of actually walking through the house. The warmth and comfort of Aunt Nodoka's home… Wouldn't that be so much more painful if she required that he fulfill the pledge?

Her breath caught in her throat when he sat on the ground and pulled a tanto out of his bag. She had promised, hadn't she, not to interfere? She clenched her jaw, feeling the crystal-like decisiveness inside. It was the feeling she got right before she hit Ranma or when she decided to try cooking or sewing one more time. Maybe it wasn't something she should do or something that she was very good at but it was something she had to do. Though she knew the feeling, she never knew her course of action until it was upon her.

Nodoka gasped at the sight of the blade. "Ranma?" The question in her voice was so obvious, even Ranma could hear it.

Ranma bowed his head properly, showing deference and a degree of shame to his mother. "I am willing to do my duty… but I have two things to ask of you first, Mother."

Nodoka fell to her knees in front of him, her eyes wide and her hands clasped together in front of her chest. "Of course, Ranma," she told him softly. "What is it?"

Akane could feel her muscles tightening and felt as if her bones would break from the tenseness of her stance. Inside, her heart felt like it was cracking, merely waiting to break again.

Ranma took a deep breath. "First of all, I'd like for you and Po—" Akane smiled slightly when he stopped himself from using the normal disrespectful honorific for his father. He cleared his throat. "I mean, Father. I'd like for the two of you to be spared my fate. You shouldn't have to die just because… I couldn't cut it."

Nodoka stood again, taking a step back at the implication of what Ranma had said. "You would die alone to atone?"

Ranma nodded once decisively. "Yes. And I would like to tell my version of stuff, 'kay?"

Nodoka inhaled deeply. "You may."

Ranma settled onto his butt, gazing only at the grass as he told her… everything. He was sure to mention Jusenkyo first, making her aware of his feminine curse before all else. The rest followed in the order Akane and the rest of the Tendos had found out: the Kiss of Death from Shampoo, which had turned quickly to the Kiss of Marriage; the Neko-Ken training his father had put him through; the mostly-solid engagement to Ukyo; and finally, Genma informing him of his pledge to make Ranma a "man amongst men". Throughout all of it, he was sure to stress his curse, making Nodoka fully aware that he can never be a true man without a real cure.

Nodoka's wide-eyed gaze was almost comical. "So… you're Ranko?"

Ranma tightened his grip on the tanto, having never set it aside. "Yeah." He finally looked up at her, feeling the need to look into her eyes for the next part. "I'm sorry for deceiving you. But when Pops told me about the pledge, I… I just wanted to get to know you," he finished with a whisper.

Throughout this back-and-forth, Akane walked quietly up to her aunt. She finally tugged gently on the sleeve of Nodoka's kimono. When the older woman tilted her head very slightly to look at her, Akane spoke. "Please, Auntie, don't make him…" She gulped, fighting past the thickness in her throat and the need to turn the bad feelings directly to anger. "He hasn't done anything wrong. He shouldn't have to die."

Ranma sighed roughly, exasperation obvious in the sound. "Akane, stay out of this." He turned the tanto toward himself, prepared for his mother's verdict. "This is a matter of honor."

That set the spark of her anger, something she had been waiting to really ignite. "It's stupid, is what it is! That pledge, she made Genma sign it because she didn't want to lose you and you know he's worthless!" Her voice softened, her anger pulling away again at her next thought. "It's what my mother would have done." She looked into her aunt's eyes again. "I'm sorry, Auntie, but that's how I feel."

Nodoka's face was open, her expression soft as she looked on Akane. "No need for apologies." She smiled secretively at her son's fiancée. "You care very deeply for Ranma, don't you?"

Akane looked stricken but she didn't have time to respond before Ranma scoffed loudly. That action was normally followed by some very hurtful words, so she steeled herself and instilled very firm control over her actions. She would do her very best not to hit Ranma in front of his mother, especially since she had yet to make an actual decision about his fate.

However, his usual follow-up was absent.

Akane sniffled convulsively, trying very hard not to cry. "I don't want him to die," she murmured softly. "So, I guess I do, if that would change your mind." She cringed internally at her ambivalent answer. That wasn't how she'd meant to say it. She glanced at Ranma, whose face was still hard-set. "I'm sorry."

"I don't need you lying to my mom to save my life anymore, Akane. Not a day has gone by without you making it clear how you feel. Let's see – 'dry up and die', 'I'm engaged to my worst nightmare', 'never want to see you again', 'get lost'… Any of this ringing a bell?"

Nodoka's head whipped back and forth at the brewing argument. She knew Kasumi had said they could get… high-spirited with one another but was it really this bad?

Akane glared at Ranma, her tears slipping down her cheeks unbidden. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm confused. Do you want to die? Am I just in the way here? I'd marry you a million times if it meant you were still alive!" Oh, God, Akane thought in shock. I really just said that, didn't I?

Ranma narrowed his eyes and scoffed again, anger and something darker pouring out of him in waves. "Yeah, I know you'd marry someone to save their life. I remember, you know, that thing with Shinnosuke…"

Akane frowned. "He was dying, Ranma. I was being a friend. I never wanted to marry him." She turned away, mumbling the rest so that he could barely hear her. "You're different."

Ranma faced Nodoka again. "Mother, what is your judgment?" He looked down at the blade turned inward at himself, making sure the first cut would be at the proper place.

Nodoka's gentle face smiled as she looked at the two children, her son so determined to do what was right even if the sacrifice was his own life and the girl that was so much like family so sad at the thought of the boy's death. It was like something out of a romance novel. She raised her hand slightly. "Stay your hand, son. There is no need to shed blood. I believe you have succeeded at your task."

Ranma just looked at his mother, his face a mask of disbelief, as his grip on the tanto loosened. The expression deepened when Akane seemed to crumple against Nodoka, hugging her tightly. "Oh, thank you, Auntie." He didn't think he'd ever heard her sound so… relieved.

Nodoka's smile broadened, her pride showing obviously as she gazed at her son. "Were you anything but a man amongst men, you would not have accepted my judgment, nor would you have asked mercy for another."

Ranma blushed, bowing his head slightly. "A martial artist protects life… and never takes it." It was the one tenet of the Art that Genma had taught him by which Ranma would always abide. He looked to the side when Akane knelt next to him, her gaze still concerned. After a moment, what he thought was the reason clicked. "But there's still the problem with the fiancées."

Akane looked up at Nodoka, misinterpreting the woman's look of confusion. "Shampoo and Ukyo are kind of persistent." She shrugged and turned her face to the side that did not face Ranma. "For all I know, I might be one of the fiancée problems." She heard more than felt the anger in her voice and thought that she was returning to normal.

Ranma shook his head vehemently. "No, Akane, the problem is the same as it always was." He smiled weakly. "Remember what Tanaka-sensei said? 'The common factor in a group of events is the cause.'"

Akane was about to argue with him, tell him very firmly that these problems were not on him but on Genma. Although, in retrospect, that kind of behavior could be traced back to the Anything Goes School's Grandmaster, Happosai. However, Nodoka chose that moment to interject with her idea.

"I'm afraid I don't understand. Why not marry all three of the girls?"

If she hadn't been so surprised herself, the look that passed over Ranma's face – the wide eyes and the expression that was somewhere between panic and a need to faint – would have made her laugh. Akane was merely appalled. "Auntie Nodoka!"

"It is an acceptable traditional solution." Nodoka grinned broadly, something in her mind having already answered her son's prayers. "Ranma marries you and takes the other two as concubines. Everyone is happy, correct?"

Akane felt like her eyes must be bulging out of her head. "I just…" She made herself stop, word what she wanted to say the right way without offending her aunt. "While it would fix the mess, Auntie, I don't know if I would be happy that way."

Ranma scoffed. "Yeah. If I ain't dying, there's no reason for her to marry me, other than the family agreement."

Akane opened her mouth, ready to argue vehemently to the contrary, but Nodoka spoke again before she could even begin to speak. "Oh? Then maybe Nabiki or Kasumi would be more willing."

More than ready to scream, Akane threw her hands into the air and huffed angrily. "I just meant that I'd prefer not to share him with two girls that hate me." After a moment of reflecting on what exactly she'd just said, her eyes began to widen again. It was some time before she realized that whatever funk had its hold on Ranma, it kept him from concentrating fully on the things that she said.

Smiling at her future daughter-in-law, Nodoka shrugged. "Oh… Well, in that case, I feel you should know that only you and this Ukyo girl have valid claims for engagement." There was a distance in Nodoka's eyes when she mentioned Ukyo that could mean one of two things: either she doubted even the validity of the Kuonji's claim or she was merely wondering what would possess Genma to trade a future with Ranma for food.

Ranma shook his head. "I tried telling Shampoo that Amazon law don't work here but…"

Akane picked up where Ranma left off, knowing that her macho fiancé tended to omit things that were a bit… alarming. "Cologne is a bit harder to persuade than Shampoo. She's the one that believes in this be-all end-all Amazon crap." Just talking about the two Amazons made Akane blood begin to boil and she began a brief mantra to calm herself.

Nodoka waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, that's fine. What I meant to say is that her claim is not valid by Amazon law."

Akane maintained enough presence of mind to register Ranma's mask of disbelief before concentrating on her aunt's calm countenance again. "Say what?"

She smiled calmly and softly. "Ranma… my son is an Amazon." Akane's face was an open mask of questions and confusion, so Nodoka continued. "Through me, Ranma is a member of the Aoyoma clan. Our clan is revered as well as feared by the Amazons of Niujezu. Neither the Kiss of Death nor the Kiss of Marriage would be valid in this case. If Ranma were to press the issue, these Amazons could be put to death merely for the insult."

Despite his shock, the relief and determination was clear on Ranma's face. "What? No way. No one's dyin'."

Akane exhaled. She'd always known that Nodoka was from a good family, just as her own mother had been, but she'd never imagined how much there could be to the history there. "Oh, wow."

"So, all I gotta do is tell the old ghoul that I'm an Aoyoma or whatever?" Ranma asked.

Akane knew Cologne wouldn't take that from Ranma alone, for her trickster mind often expected tricks from him as well. "Maybe Auntie should do that. Cologne might think you're pulled a fast one or something."

Nodoka nodded. "I will have a talk with her personally. I take it is Elder Cologne you are referring to?"

Ranma nodded. "Yeah, at the N-Nekohanten." Akane arched an eyebrow at his stutter, wondering at it before realizing that it was simply the word 'cat' that had caused the misstep in his voice and nothing more.

Nodoka smiled. "Now, about Miss Kuonji, I trust you wish to try and preserve your friendship with her?"

Ranma nodded decisively. Yeah, Ucchan is my best pal."

"Of course she is," Akane muttered darkly.

"In that case, I see two options," Nodoka continued after sending Akane a concerned look. Ranma looked up at his mother with an open expression and nodded at her to continue. "As I mentioned, the first option would be to take her as a concubine."

Ranma set his jaw before replying. "I ain't using Ucchan like that and Akane would kill me."

Akane smiled slightly, though there was no mirth in the gesture. "Yeah, I would."

Nodoka blinked at the young girl's straightforward comment but continued nonetheless. "Alright. The second option would be for us to adopt her into the Saotome clan as your sister."

Akane sighed, relief leaking through the cracks at the action. "I like that one better."

Ranma cast a glance at Akane. "Do you… do you think she would really go for that?"

"Sure," Akane answered automatically. For Ukyo, the engagement claim was all about her family honor. Except that she was pretty sure that Ukyo had slowly but surely fallen in love with him. "Maybe. I'm not totally sure."

"We would have to ask her." Nodoka said it firmly enough that the point was clear: it had to be Ukyo's choice. Nothing less would do. "You said both shops were on the same street?"

Ranma nodded slowly. "Why?" Despite his relief at not having to commit suicide, he could feel impending danger at her question.

Nodoka smiled, calculation and sharp danger showing through the gentle expression. "I thought that it was perhaps time that I was introduced to them."

Ranma backpedaled swiftly, his eyes wide in fear. "Maybe that's not such a good idea…"

His mother tilted her head very slightly. "Oh?"

He cast his eyes to the side, glancing at Akane for a moment. "They may not be too friendly if they find out what you have planned. And if Kodachi gets involved…"

Akane sighed roughly and looked Ranma in the eyes, trying very hard to plead with him silently. Maybe he didn't want to see it but Nodoka was going to do what she liked, with or without Ranma playing along with her plans. "It's gonna happen anyway, right? It would be better to do it now rather than later."

Nodoka nodded decisively, smiling at the girl that looked so much like her deceased best friend. "She is correct. If you would give a moment to get ready…" She turned to reenter her home, tossing a comment over her shoulder. "Do come in. This is your home as well, Ranma."

Ranma stood slowly, stretching out overstrained muscles and the shock of the past hour still clear on his face.

Akane stood but wavered in place for a moment. She had interfered, just like Ranma had told her not to, but he also wasn't always one to tell someone when they were wanted. When he did, it kind of exploded out of him like verbal diarrhea. "I'll, um…" I should go home… but I don't want to. "Is this a family thing? Do you want me to go home?" She absolutely hated to ask his permission but she was straining to be better.

Ranma shook his head idly. "Nah. This involves you too."

He walked into his mother's house and removed his shoes, as was proper, with Akane following his movement about five steps behind. "Ryoga should be gone by now, you think?" Akane was more comfortable in this conversation, something that could quickly turn into a vehement argument rather than the idea that a good measure of the things that make her angry suddenly becoming so much dust.

Ranma shrugged. "If he's smart, yeah."

Akane smiled and laughed, humor still far from the sound. "So, that's probably a no, then?"

Ranma's head jerked around to look at her closely. "What, no telling me not to pick on poor Ryoga?"

Akane didn't look her fiancé in the eye but already knew why he was trying to examine her so closely. She was acting very differently, of course. She had been trying very hard for a couple of weeks to tamp down on her anger and had been partially successful, though sometimes the urge to scream and hit things got out of control. However, up until about an hour ago, the threat of seppuku had been very real and she had truly believed that Ranma would die. It was what one would call an eye-opener.

However, in response to Ranma's question, she could feel the skin around her eyes tighten as she twitched slightly. " 'Poor Ryoga' has seen me without my clothes on. I'm not feeling really generous right now."

"So, he's on your shit list next to me, eh? Happens, I guess." Shrugging, Ranma navigated his way into the living room.

Akane sighed, dejection thick in the sound. "At least I knew when you were looking at me."

Ranma rubbed the back of his head in memory of many beatings from accidentally seeing her naked. "Yeah, and you let me know how you felt about it."

Akane ducked her head. "Sorry."

"Stop doing that. You're creeping me out."

Akane's brow furrowed. "What, apologizing?"

"Yeah. It's not like you?"

"I should, though," Akane hedged firmly. "Apologize when I feel bad. I am sorry, whether you believe me or not."

Ranma sighed. "Last time you were this nice, it was that doll in your body trying to kill me."

Akane shrugged. "You like her better, didn't you?"

"No. She creeped me out. I thought you were playing some sick joke on me."

"So you would rather me be mean and angry all the time?"

It was Ranma's turn to shrug. "Can't blame me if it's what I'm used to with ya. Sudden niceness is always strange from you, especially when you never explain why."

Akane looked off to the side, concentrating on a window that showed the backyard. Boy, the cherry blossoms were pretty this time of year, weren't they? "I've just been thinking about stuff, is all. Today had just been long and complicated." Her gaze shifted to the corridor that led to her aunt's bedroom. "And I don't think it's even half over yet."

Ranma stood, beginning to walk back and forth, almost pacing. "It's never over. At least not for me. There will always be another rival, another battle. There's always some new demon, prince or monster for me to fight."

Akane wanted so much to stand up and console him but she knew that would freak him out even more, accomplishing nothing. "You shouldn't think that way. I know it seems like it's always getting worse. Maybe you can find something to make all of it worthwhile." Even if it's not me, she added silently.

He scoffed. "Like what? Every time I think I've found something, it always gets yanked away…" At that point, his eyes went distant and Akane wondered what he was remembering. She never would have thought that it was the memory of when they first met, before she knew he was a guy. She would never have guessed that the words do you wanna be friends? were echoing inside his brain.

Even though he didn't say anything to that effect, Akane couldn't help but feel like this depression, this funk Ranma was stuck in was her fault. "If there's something that might help, I could try," she offered softly.

Ranma shrugged, the action totally noncommittal but the tint of his eyes somehow pleading.

Nodoka reappeared then through the corridor, dressed in a much different kimono. It was mostly black, the dark color interspersed with red designs and characters. The effect of these very official-looking robes almost made Akane gasp.

"Is that from your clan?"

Nodoka nodded, something like solid steel in the gesture. "These raiment will further identify me to Elder Cologne. Shall we go?"

Ranma nodded, leading them out of the house toward the market district of Nerima ward. Akane nodded to herself. Yeah, it was going to be a very long day.


	3. Taking Care of Business

**A/N: Ack! 10 months since my last update? *smacks hand* How dare I? With any luck, the updates might be sooner rather than later but we'll see how it goes. Hope everyone enjoys the new chapter!**

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><p>Akane looked at the sign for the Cat Café, her eyes for the first time noticing the smaller Chinese characters situated there. It was odd, how much she noticed when she wasn't angry enough to chew steel. Her eyes shifted to look at Nodoka's back, notice that her red silk-wrapped katana looked very comfortable there. Before her mind could begin to wander, for her mind very much wanted to wander away from their current situation, they entered the Nekohanten.<p>

Cologne arched an eyebrow at their entrance but her attention was mostly drawn to Nodoka. Akane could see the calculation in those older eyes and thought the older Amazon probably recognized the characters that spelled out the Aoyoma name and others that seems to declare a tenet that was probably specific to the Aoyoma swordswomen.

Catching Mousse's eye, which was much more difficult than it sounded, Akane nodded a greeting. She didn't know what it was about Nodoka but she was cowed by her presence. Would she have been like this around her own mother?

After a moment, Mousse returned her greeting with an inclination of his own head, his dark hair falling forward slightly. However, his eyes slid almost immediately to Nodoka. The questions in his eyes were clear, obviously wondering at the woman's identity and why she was carrying a sword.

Akane smiled and directed her next comment to Mousse, completely ignoring Cologne. When she could get away with it, she insulted the elderly woman because it stung to be thought of as less than nothing, which is how she knew Cologne thought of her and her family. "This is Nodoka Saotome, Ranma's mother." Mousse blinked and Akane's smile turned vaguely malicious. "Oh, I apologize. She said you would know her by her clan name, Aoyoma."

An abrupt clutter of noise caused Akane to physically turn and look at the Amazon elder. Cologne was standing on the floor, a position that signified that she had probably fallen off her cane. "A-Aoyoma?" the older woman stuttered anxiously.

"Yeah." Ranma nodded. "Cologne, Mousse, this is my mom. Mom, this is Cologne and Mousse."

"A pleasure. My son has told me so much about you." Though her words implied common niceties, her tone and stature made it clear that this meeting was anything but a pleasure.

Cologne gulped thickly at Nodoka's tone. "H-has he now? All good things, I hope…"

Akane smirked maliciously at the old woman. "Now, when have you ever known Ranma to lie?" It was kind of exhilarating to see Cologne flinch before she managed to pull herself together.

The elderly Amazon smiled ruefully to herself. "Successfully? Never."

Akane cocked her head. "There's your answer then. Personally, I'm a little afraid of Auntie," she admitted conspiratorially to Cologne. "I wouldn't dream of lying to her."

Off to the side, Mousse scoffed loudly, though the comment that followed was uttered in his normal low tenor. "Though, according to Miss Tendo, Ranma often lies."

Akane whipped her head to glare at the tall Amazon boy, the upward curve of her lips not at all friendly. "If you love your precious Shampoo, I would shut that flytrap of yours." Instantly, his eyes became wide and he pressed his lips tightly together in what she had to assume was a truce gesture. She wasn't entirely sure if he complied because he assumed Nodoka's presence in an almost official capacity meant Shampoo's death. Best to let him assume, for now.

It was then that Akane realized that Nodoka was speaking. "Elder Ku Lon, it has come to my attention that your great-great-granddaughter has claimed my son despite his protests to the contrary." Nodoka was staring down the Amazon, daring the woman to impugn Ranma's right to deny Shampoo.

Cologne cleared her throat gently. "Yes, I assure you, we were not informed of his… heritage," she hedged. The hard, suspicious look entered the woman's eyes and Akane knew somehow that she was thinking something about Genma, probably something not quite nice. She'd often seen that expression on Nabiki's face when the older Saotome managed to empty out their pantry in close to one sitting or on her father's face when he did something with which Soun did not particularly agree.

When Nodoka replied, there was a low but elegant kind of snarl to her voice. "No doubt given recent events, you would not be inclined to merely take my word for it. So, as such, I bring this as proof." She pulled off the bundle that was tied to her back and unwrapped it on a nearby table. Within the red silk lay two blades, a white honor blade with the characters for 'Saotome' etched into the hilt and a red-sheathed katana with black calligraphy spelling out 'Aoyoma'. The sight of it literally made Cologne take a couple steps back. "Here, I hold the Saotome honor blade and the sword my mother presented to me when I came of age."

Cologne inhaled deeply. "I see. I apologize greatly for any trouble we may have caused your clan and hope that this misunderstanding will not discolor our tribe's standing with your clan." Akane could feel herself goggling at the Amazon matriarch. She had no idea that Cologne could backpedal that quickly.

Nodoka's firm expression melted into a gentle smile and she placed a hand on Ranma's shoulder. "Well, I'm not the one to decide that, am I?"

Suddenly, the door jangled loudly and Shampoo flounced into the Cat Café exuberantly. Upon glimpsing Nodoka and her strange kimono, she looked at Cologne out of the edge of her eye. "Aiya, who this?"

Cologne glared at Shampoo harshly. "Xian Pu, show some respect. We are honored to play host not only to an Aoyoma warrior but Ranma's mother as well."

Shampoo smiled brightly, her charm at its peak. "Oh? Ranma _maman_? _Nihao_!"

Nodoka directed her smile at her young Amazon girl. "My. You are a lovely lady, aren't you?"

Akane swore she could see when it clicked in Shampoo's head. She glanced sharply at the matriarch. "Wait, Aoyoma?"

Cologne inclined her head deeply. "Yes. Both Ranma's mother and, by extension, Ranma himself bear Aoyoma blood."

At this point, Mousse decided to open his mouth and interject the facts. "Meaning neither the Kiss of Death nor the Kiss of Marriage were valid."

Cologne shot him a threatening glare, which Akane expected but made her feel for Mousse just the same.

Shampoo's expression was a mask of sadness. "Aiya, that mean… Ranma no husband?"

Akane glared at the Amazon girl but she was finding that the anger was slipping her grasp again. "Not yours anyway," she muttered darkly.

Nodoka smiled kindly at the girl that would likely become her daughter-in-law. "Exactly. Though if whomever he does marry consents, you may still be able to become his concubine. Otherwise, I would advise you to cease your pursuit of him."

Mousse was immediately alarmed. "I doubt Xian Pu would."

At the same time, Akane snorted softly. "You're stuck on this concubine thing, aren't you?"

Nodoka grinned broadly. "My son is a man amongst men. Surely no single woman could satisfy him. In any case, that gives me all the more grandchildren."

Akane's eyes widened to a comical size while Ranma groaned, both of them wondering why the adults had to look to the future so eagerly.

"I'm sure Xian Pu could prove worthy in that respect," Cologne conceded solemnly.

Shampoo looked from Ranma to Akane, something in her expression to seem both mocking and conniving. "Shampoo love Ranma much but no play second to Violent Girl."

Nodoka frowned. "Violent?" she echoed, turning to look at Akane closely. The dark-haired girl almost flinched under the scrutiny. "I know Akane can be a bit spirited but I have not seen any reason to call her 'violent'."

"I have," Mousse and Ranma caroled in unison. Not being in a position where she could glare at them both, Akane pinned her hard stare on her fiancé.

After a moment, she shrugged in a purposeful movement. "I didn't kill Ryoga, did I?" Nodoka looked at her closely again, having sensed the underlying fury in the words.

Ranma thought back to when he'd found Ryoga. "Dunno. He wasn't moving when I found him."

Akane stared at her fiancé, her brain working to figure out if there was something more to his statement than there seemed. She was distracted from her building irritation when Shampoo spoke again.

"So… is Violent Girl have Ranma as husband?" Akane almost sneered at the young Amazon for the obvious disgust in her voice.

Nodoka merely nodded, either not having noticed or ignoring Shampoo's tone. "Her engagement is valid, agreed upon by myself, Akane's mother and our husbands. Ranma is to marry one of Soun's daughters and Akane seemed to be the best candidate."

Akane smiled at Nodoka. "Thank you, Auntie." Then she stopped, realizing that that comment could have had more connotations than she first believed. "Wait, what do you mean by that?"

Nodoka glanced at Akane idly. "By what, dear?"

Akane furrowed her brow. "Am I the best choice because I'm Ranma's age?"

Nodoka smiled slightly at the girl. "Actually, age has little to do with it. When Ranma was born, the agreement was finalized but for one detail, which was which one of the girls it would be. It seems you are the one that was chosen, correct?"

"Yeah." Akane ducked her head slightly. "My sisters decided, actually. Because of the curse and how I kind of hated boys at the time." Her eyes bugged slightly at how the explanation sounded. "Well, not in the not being attracted to them way," she corrected hastily. Despite her disgust with Nodoka's preoccupation with concubines, she didn't want her getting the wrong idea.

The older woman's eyelids lowered in a way that made her seem almost dangerous. "I see. Akane, do you _want_ to marry Ranma or are you merely doing it out of obligation?"

It hurt a little when Ranma turned his head away, a guarded expression on his face. Akane steeled herself and answered Nodoka, not that she could lie to her "aunt" any more than she could lie to Kasumi. "Well, if you really want to know…" She stopped and took a breath. "I want him to marry me, even if he's kind of a jerk sometimes."

Nodoka's expression returned to its normal, open kindness and she smiled softly at Akane. "And why do you want to marry him?"

Akane didn't notice Ranma's sudden interest but eyed the curious Amazons suspiciously. "Well… he can be nice and he protects me and he's one of the first guys I've met that will actually listen to me." She smiled ruefully. "Mostly." With a sigh, she looked at Nodoka. "I like him. Does there have to be more than that?"

Nodoka gazed at her solemnly. "It is usually a good idea, yes. Kimiko and I had such high hopes for this, that her beloved daughters would find peace."

Pressing her lips together, Akane grabbed Nodoka's kimono sleeve and tugged her closer to the door. Upon later reflection, she would likely realize that the Cat Café was not a very large restaurant, not nearly large enough for this kind of admission with martial artist and their crazy-good senses present. "Honestly, Auntie, I think that if this fiancée mess were settled, things might click into place. I really want to marry Ranma." Pausing, she took a deep breath. She needed to tell Nodoka her true feelings. "I think I love him."

Wide-eyed, Ranma looked to the only mostly-unbiased person in the vicinity: Mousse. "Did she just say what I think she did?" The blind Amazon who likely had the best hearing of them all merely nodded very slightly, his expression frozen in a mask of extreme disbelief.

Akane glanced sharply in Ranma's direction and gasped at the expression on his face, something that was equal parts numb disbelief and fascinated happiness. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking…

She looked up at Nodoka, not really knowing what to think about that particular dumbfounded look on Ranma's face and not really wanting to deal with it at the moment. "I think we should go see Ukyo," she murmured to the older woman.

Nodoka glanced between Akane and Ranma, her smile brightening. Her older, more experienced mind knew that there was something developing there but knew better than to say anything. She nodded to Akane and went to retrieve her son by the arm, relieved that the frozen mask of his face didn't translate to the rest of his body.

Akane was out of the Cat Café and halfway across the street before she looked back at Ranma and Nodoka. It would be impossible to say how much she did not want to deal with this. What if Ranma didn't feel the same? What if he was too nice to tell her that? What if, despite all of these problem solutions they were going through now, he actually loved Ukyo or… God forbid, Shampoo?

She could feel herself following the questions down a deep dark hole of depression when she noticed a single black rose petal on the street. She didn't even have time to react before the razor-sharp ribbon, Kodachi's weapon of choice, whipped past her cheek.

"Harlot! Unhand my Ranma-sama!"

Akane almost laughed when she realized that Kodachi had directed her attack at Nodoka, obviously believing that the beautiful older woman was seducing Ranma. Classic Kodachi Kuno thought process. However, whatever humor had been in the situation was gone when she saw Ranma's face.

Out of reflex, Ranma had caught the ribbon, letting part of it wrap around his hand. Whereas he had seemed lost in some numb world of his own mere moments ago, now fury seemed to take up his countenance. Akane had never seen him like this before and if she had, she was sure she would have blocked it out.

"Akane." Hearing the growl in his voice, Akane cringed. While she was certain he wouldn't hurt Kodachi too badly, the female Kuno had attacked his mother, someone that a few months ago he hadn't even known existed. "You two, go to Ucchan's. I'm gonna handle this."

Nodoka had yet to release Ranma's arm. "But, Ranma, dear…"

Akane quickly stepped to Nodoka's side and tugged on her kimono sleeve, somehow effectively getting her to release her son. "Don't hurt her," she murmured softly to her fiancé. "Come on, Auntie. Your proposal to Ukyo should be presented before she sees Ranma."

Nodoka had no choice but to follow Akane, for the younger girl's strength far outpaced her own. Kodachi was rambling on about wenches and her Ranma-sama but neither Akane nor Nodoka paid her much attention. "Will Ranma be okay? I smelled some form of poison on the ribbon."

Akane glanced back at Ranma but he was obviously waiting until they could no longer see him. "He's usually good about this stuff."

They quickly finished the journey to Ucchan's, Akane grinning at the bright banner above the door. She risked another glance over her shoulder and then pushed Nodoka through the door quickly before the older woman could do the same thing. "Come on, Auntie, let's introduce you to Ukyo Kuonji."

As soon as they stepped through the door, Akane could hear Ukyo's chipper voice. "Welcome to Ucchan's!" There was a slight pause, injected with a very heavy feeling of negativity. "Oh… it's you."

Akane rolls her eyes at Ukyo, wondering at her coldness. "That's a nice attitude, Ukyo. Tell me, do you treat all your potential customers that way?"

Ukyo looked away from Akane, pointedly focusing on the griddle in front of her. "You never come here unless you're looking for Ranma or wanting to cause trouble for me."

Akane wanted very much to hit something. How is it that they perceived her as the troublemaker? Had she ever purposely interfered with their schemes? Had she even ever been able to lay a hand on them in reparation for the damage they had done her? With a heavy sigh, she pasted a congenial smile on her face. "I just thought you'd like to meet a friend of the family."

After all, it would be best to put her best foot forward in this particular situation.

Ukyo didn't even do her the favor of looking up from the griddle. "Ranchan ain't here," she told her simply, as if that answered everything. "Besides, why would I be interested in meeting a friend of _your_ family?" Gritting her teeth against the implied insult, Akane felt a little better when the okonomiyaki chef finally looked up to examine Nodoka. "Although, she does look awfully familiar…"

Having had the opportunity to see Ranma and Nodoka next to each other several times, Akane rolled her eyes. _Gee, ya think?_

For her part, Nodoka merely bowed, that graceful smile everpresent on her face. "I am Nodoka Saotome."

Ukyo's eyes immediately narrowed and Akane felt great confusion for a brief moment. "That idiot panda hitched you to Ranchan? But he's MY fiancé!" Okay, that made a little more sense, though it made Akane realize that she wasn't the only one always jumping to the wrong conclusion.

A sidelong glance revealed Nodoka's pinkish blush of embarrassment. "Oh… Oh my, no…"

Fighting the urge to retch, Akane wished there was sake strong enough to kill that image from her mind. But, alas… "Even if she weren't _Ranma's mother_, my family is like family to Ranma. I'd think you would be happy to meet her." Stressing Nodoka's relationship to boy in question, Akane felt it was more prudent to answer the question that had actually been directed at her, the one that chafed at her the most.

Ukyo immediately balked. "M-Mother?"

Between her auntie's blushing and the chef's paling face, Akane could feel that the situation had rapidly gotten out of hand but it was the adult that needed to take charge. To diffuse the awkward silence, she moved closer to Nodoka and patted her shoulder gently. "It's all right," she told her with a significant nod of her head in Ukyo's direction.

Recognizing the gesture for what it was, the older woman finally cleared her throat. "Miss Kuonji," she began.

"Please, call me Ukyo," the okonomiyaki chef interjected with her most charming and broad smile. "Sorry for the misunderstanding."

What other choice did Nodoka had but to present her own serene smile? "It's quite alright. It is actually a bit flattering to be considered in such a manner."

Akane rolled her eyes and chuckled. "At least I can count on you not wanting to be his concubine," she commented with a soft nudge. _My auntie the pervert, _she thought wryly. For a brief moment, she cast her glance at the window that looked outside, a window that revealed nothing of Ranma or the crazed gymnast that he now fought. _I hope Kodachi's okay… Oh, God, did I really just think that?_

For her part, Nodoka merely responded to the girl's light jibe. "Oh, yes. That would hardly be proper."

"For once, we agree," Akane murmured.

Spatula in hand, Ukyo visibly relaxed. It was obvious that she thought that Nodoka was here to meet the 'cute' fiancée, the 'real' fiancée. "So, to what do I owe this honor and what can I make for you?"

Akane merely arched an eyebrow and moved away from both of them, settling down at one of the tables a few feet away from the central griddle attached to the bar. _Watch the boy-girl as she backpedals,_ she thought to herself with black amusement.

Nodoka was ready to guide into the real reason for their visit. "I have come to talk to you about the way my husband has behaved toward you and your relationship with my son, of course."

Glancing to the side, Ukyo frowned deeply. "I don't know what Akane has told you about me…" Her voice faded to stop, perhaps a pause to space out her next reasoning but the young Tendo was quick to interrupt.

"Hey! I didn't say nothing!" She left it at that, surprised at how she was worded the vehement denial. _Oh, God, I'm starting to sound like Ranma._

Nodoka inclined her head slightly. "What I know of you, I heard from Ranma's mouth, not Akane."

"Oh," Ukyo breathed softly. She darted an embarrassed glance at her rival. "Gomen, Akane."

Determined to keep things between the two of them as non-violent as possible, Akane merely rewarded her with a gentle smile. "It's okay."

Smiling at her future daughter-in-law with approval, Nodoka continued her conversation with Ukyo. "My son thinks very highly of you. I want to know your feelings for him, engagements, honor and idiot husbands put aside."

Akane leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table and her chin in her hands. _Now, this I'm interested in._ She also paid close attention to her auntie. How Nodoka behaved now, that was how she needed to become – calm, collected and utterly understanding in all things.

"I…" Ukyo swallowed thickly and cleared her throat. "I love him with all my heart but I know he doesn't want to marry me. I'd happily give up my claim to him and become ronin except…" She trailed off and Akane watched as her eyes brimmed with sincere tears, one of which slipped down her cheek and fell out of sight. "Except that his options would be to either be dragged off to China and become some kind of house-husband or live his life with a woman that abuses him and poison him with her cooking." Akane felt her hands curl into fists but merely pressed her jaw down until the bones of her fingers began to ache, refusing to respond to the insults on her character.

Nodoka darted a worried glance in Akane's direction but the girl didn't know if the concern was for her sake or for her son's. "Well, Xian Pu's claim has been nullified," she told Ukyo softly.

The chef looked directly at Akane, something that was either resignation or a challenge in her eyes. "So, it's just the two of us, eh?"

Realizing that she couldn't keep herself still enough in her current position, Akane moved to grip the underside of her chair, her skin biting into the wood of the chair. "It's up to Ranma," she asserted carefully.

Ukyo sighed, the sound clearly declaring her own frustration with the pig-tailed boy. "He's not gonna pick. You do enough damage as his fiancée, he'd never survive you as a wife. Besides," she added, the expression on her face curiously sly, "you always tell everyone, including Ranma, how much you hate him."

Akane stood immediately, the chair clattering to the floor behind her, but managed to maintain enough control to keep herself still. "I love Ranma!" Looking off to the side, she could help find how easy it was to say after having admitted it to Nodoka, especially when Ranma was not in the immediate vicinity. "At least I don't try to buy him or his time."

Ukyo bristled immediately. "I don't either! I try to at least be his friend, I don't push him to be what he doesn't want to be, and I don't make him out to be the bad guy every time he looks up." With a soft huff, she turned her attention back to Nodoka. "I… I know he doesn't love me but if I could be sure he would be happy, I would give up my claim."

Nodoka stood very still and Akane felt embarrassed for how much of her bad traits had been heaped on the woman today. "I am quite sure he and Akane would be happy."

Akane raised her hand in a slight dismissive gesture. "If Ranma's happy… I could deal. You know, if it's not with me." She paused, drawing courage for the addition that she wanted to say. "I would prefer it to be with me, though."

Ukyo's eyes blazed at her comment. "What's to keep you from smashing him with your hammer like usual, huh? Or—or attacking him for showing you kindness like you do every day?" In another situation, the way the tears flowed down the chef's face would have made Akane sympathetic. She clenched her jaw in an attempt to wait out Ukyo's tirade. "Damn it! He loves you and you treat him like shit! Mousse is treated better by Shampoo!"

Though she didn't want to, Akane could feel her angry battle aura heat up around her. _Uncute! Built like a brick! Stupid! Slowpoke! You'll never find a husband!_ Even though it was bad enough that she had heard this every day for many months, she had almost as many memories of Ukyo joining him, memories that twisted and warped until they were larger than life and she was something small to be stepped on. "Don't talk about things you don't know anything about," she murmured softly, clenching her fists tightly against her side.

She just scoffed in return. "Don't know anything about? I'm his best friend, remember? Every time you trash him, he vents to me and… and no matter how much it hurts, I always tell him to follow his heart… back to you. Back to the bitch who hurts him more than he understands!" In the process of getting it all out, Ukyo had leaned over the counter and was screaming the words.

But Akane needed to make Ukyo understand, understand what no one ever seemed to understand. "You think I start everything? That I'm always the one to blame? You just want to take his side and you can't see anything else! You can't see anything but him!" Despite how openly Ukyo's tears had flowed, Akane kept her own in check, keeping a tight grip on the thought that such an open display of emotional was unladylike. Nodoka would be displeased.

At that very moment, when both girls were having the most difficulty holding back the urge to fight all-out, Ranma walked into the restaurant. With his arrival, the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees but Akane thought she might have been the only one to notice. "Again? Can't you two ever get along?" His tone was completely level, revealing an agitation that she knew he didn't normally feel.

Biting her lip at the obvious rebuke, Akane forced her hands to unclench and took a step back. With a slight twist of her body, she righted the chair that she had knocked back unceremoniously askew and seated herself again, her spine stiff and her eyes facing strictly forward.

At his arrival, Nodoka turned to her son, a gentle smile on her face. Akane idly thought that she seemed glad that the impending blows had been avoided. "Oh, hello, Ranma. Did you manage to settle things with that young lady?"

At the comment, Ukyo faced the boy as well, one eyebrow neatly arched. "Ranchan? Wait, what young lady?"

His tone remained monotonous and a sidelong glance revealed to Akane that his eyes seemed kind of… flat. "Kodachi ain't no lady… but she shouldn't be any more trouble." He then turned his entire focus to his mother. "You talk to Ucchan about it yet?"

The older woman turned to face the okonomiyaki chef again. "We were about to discuss our options when you arrived."

Akane watched with apprehension as the window nearest Ranma began to frost slightly. Had he used the Hiryu Shoten Ha? On Kodachi? She then looked Nodoka in the eyes and bowed her head formally. "Gomen nasai, Aunt Nodoka. I shouldn't have lost my temper before you were able to fully speak with Ukyo."

Nodoka offered Akane a brief nod and then addressed Ukyo. "This is a sensitive subject, as you two are the last fiancées. As I see it, there are three clear options." The chef turned eager eyes on the Saotome woman. "The first and least pleasant for all involved is to allow the two of you to continue contesting each other's claim." A look around the room proved to Akane that no one thought much of this option. "The second option would be for the two of you to cooperate. In this situation, one of you would become his wife and the other his concubine."

Akane and Ranma reacted simultaneously. She pressed a hand to her face and thought, _Not that again…_ At the same time, he exclaimed "Mom!" with a healthy dose of displeasure.

However, Nodoka was only aware of his son's reaction. "Hush, Ranma. I am merely making them aware of their options."

Ukyo's reaction was to look to the side, her expression a picture of negativity. "I don't think that would be a good idea."

The older woman sighed, the sound full of drained hopes. "Very well. A mother could hope…"

Akane rolled her eyes at the gesture. "Just how many girls do you want him to have?"

She was surprised when the woman looked to be seriously considering the answer to what had been a rhetorical question. "Well, I think a wife and three concubines would be well within his abilities and the more the merrier. After all, had she not already been married, I would have selected Kimiko as Genma's concubine."

In turn, Akane could feel a hysterical laugh building at the bottom of her throat. "Oh, eww. My mom?" Only the sight of both Ranma and Ukyo turning different shades of ill kept her hysteria well under control. Then, another thought occurred to her, chilling her to the bone. "I could've had Genma as a dad?"

Nodoka beamed at her. "We were quite close."

Akane's eyes widened at the implication of that statement. Before the images of her mother and Ranma's mother and Genma could invade her mind, she closed her eyes and pressed the heel of her hands into them hard enough to sting. _I never should have asked…_

"Okay, okay." Ukyo's voice was clear as she tried vehemently to steer them back to the task at hand. "What's my third option? To forget Ranchan entirely? 'Cause I ain't doing that."

Akane slowly moved her hands to her temples. While Ukyo's query had managed to train her mind back on the reason behind this visit and cause the completely perverted images evaporate from her mind, she was again reminded how long the day had already been. The migraine that was building because of it was not a new experience but she disliked it all the same.

"Oh, Kami, no," Nodoka gasped. "What kind of mother would I be to deny my child his best friend?" She took a breath and continued. "The third option is for me to adopt you into the clan as Ranma's sister. That would allow the two of you to remain close while handling the tarnish on your honor, would it not?"

Akane allowed her eyes to open, curious as to the reactions this option would garner. While it was as much of a surprise to her as to Ukyo, Akane felt she could no longer be shocked by anything, let alone a simple solution to this tangled knot of a problem.

Ukyo had turned to look at Ranma with big eyes. "W-What do you think, Ranchan? Would you want me as a sister?"

Akane focused on Ranma as well, trying to gauge his answer without openly staring. "Y-Yeah, of course. I mean, no one could complain about us being pals and hanging out and stuff, right?"

She caught Ukyo's sidelong glance as well. "Some still would," the chef murmured softly. Even as she wondered at the underlying comment there, Ukyo fully faced the Saotomes again. "If this will make Ranma happy, I… I accept. But that doesn't mean I have to let Akane walk all over him," she was quick to add.

"Of course not," Nodoka replied with a broad smile, obviously happy that her solution had been accepted. "Siblings do have to look out for each other, after all."

Even though that wasn't Akane's own experience, the full effect of this new situation occurred to her suddenly and her eyes widened very slight. _I just walked myself into a lifetime of double-teamed insults._ "I don't have a problem with them being friends or siblings." She felt a very strong need to make that quite clear.

Ranma grinned at Ukyo, something that still caused the young chef to blush deeply. "Cool, Ukyo-neechan."

Then, Nodoka looked at Akane, a serious look replacing her merriment. "Akane, why don't you and Ranma head back to the dojo while I take Ukyo to get registered?"

Akane stood immediately and bowed deeply before the older woman, as was proper before one's elder. "Yes, Auntie."

With that, Akane strode over to her fiancé and they exited the restaurant. She wondered silently what all else this day might bring.


End file.
